The Salvador Dali Museum: Florida Gets Even More Surreal

It is absolutely appropriate that a museum dedicated to Salvador Dali—one of history’s most accomplished Surrealists—is located in the state of Florida. Florida is infamous for a seemingly endless stream of bizarre happenings that entertain and horrify the rest of us. Is a Miami man who tried to bite off a stranger’s face any stranger than a painting of a collection of melting clocks? A visit to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida may help you decide what’s more surreal— the art of a master Surrealist, or Florida’s status as the tried and true news of the weird capital.

The Salvador Dali Museum hosts the largest collection of Dali’s famed art outside of his home country of Spain. The fanciful building which features sweeping skylights that resemble bubble wrap, and a large circular staircase is a work of art in and of itself. Salvador Dali is most famous for his striking paintings. Dali was a prolific artist who worked in many different mediums including photography, film, and sculpture. The Salvador Dali Museum hosts a multitude of celebrated works from throughout Dali’s storied career.

The Salvador Dali Museum features frequent traveling exhibitions from other artistic legends such as Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, and Diego Rivera. The Dali museum features some of Dali’s most eccentric creations, including his famed_ Lobster Phone. _Florida—in all of its glorious weirdness—is the ideal home for a telephone adorned with a plastic crustacean. If you’re a fan of Dali’s most famous painting _The Persistence of Memory—_which features an uncanny dreamscape littered with warped clocks—the Dali Museum will excite your imagination like few other art collections. The Surrealist movement was dedicated to departing from the banal and exploring the subconscious. The unusual art of Salvador Dali and the oddness of Florida are a perfect match.